Greater Noida: Maintenance dues spark standoff between Eros Group and residents’ body

Greater Noida: Residents say the abrupt disruption amounts to coercion, while the developer contests service cuts, citing long-pending dues by most residents

GREATER NOIDA: The alleged disruption of electricity, water and other essential services at Eros Sampoornam housing society in Greater Noida West triggered protests from the residents of the housing complex on Saturday.

The residents of the housing complex held a protest on Saturday (HT)

While residents say that the disruption amounts to coercion, the developer, Eros Group, has contested allegations of abrupt or arbitrary service shutdowns, stating that the situation stems from long-standing non-payment of maintenance dues by a majority of residents.

Residents of the housing complex, which has over 3,500 occupants across multiple phases, complained that electricity, water pumping and other essential services were disrupted for over 24 hours on Saturday.

“Living without power supply in this cold was extremely difficult. With no power, even water supply from RO units was affected, and residents were running for water,” 75-year-old Parvez M Fazili said.

Dipankar Kumar, president of the apartment owners’ association (AOA), alleged on X: “Security staff was withdrawn, diesel generator power backup was stopped and housekeeping was removed. For over 14 hours there was no electricity and RO water supply was hit, leaving thousands of residents without drinking water.”

Another resident, Navneet Juneja, said the buyers have approached authorities repeatedly. “We have abided by the law and raised concerns at several forums. Our case is being heard by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), yet the situation keeps worsening. Local administration needs to step in,” Juneja said.

Meanwhile, Alakshendra Singh, head of corporate communications at Eros Group, told HT that the dispute dates back to the handover of the first two phases of the project in 2017, comprising around 1,768 apartments across 21 towers.

“At the time of handover, maintenance charges were fixed at ₹1.95 per square foot, duly agreed and signed by all residents, with a provision of 8% annual escalation,” Singh said. “Despite this, we did not increase charges for nearly three years on humanitarian grounds as key amenities like the club were not operational. Even during the covid pandemic, there was no increase.”

According to the developer, when the club became operational in 2022, a proposal to revise maintenance charges to ₹2.30 per square foot met with resistance. “Again in 2024, we proposed a revision, but instead of just opposing the increase, a section of association representatives allegedly began discouraging residents from paying even the agreed ₹1.95,” Singh said.

He claimed that currently only about 30% of residents were paying maintenance.

The developer said unpaid dues stood at around ₹2.5 crore in 2024, which has now crossed ₹3 crore. The Eros Group also stated that it had applied to the GNIDA in 2024, seeking to hand over maintenance responsibilities to the society, citing financial unviability.

“We were ready to hand over the society, but residents demanded it be restored to a ‘brand-new’ condition without clearing pending dues,” Singh said. “We made it clear that dues must be paid first. That is where talks broke down.”

On January 2, a notice was issued warning that services such as power backup, housekeeping and security would be withdrawn if payments were not regularised. Singh said no response was received for nearly two weeks.

“After services were stopped on January 16, protests broke out and false allegations were made about water and electricity being stopped,” Singh said, adding that services were temporarily restored following the authority’s intervention.

“This is a temporary arrangement till Wednesday. If there is no resolution, services will be withdrawn again, and this time permanently.”

Officials from GNIDA are yet to issue a detailed public clarification on the dispute.